The middle school students at The Renaissance International School got a little taste of the biodiversity that is in their backyard. We drove over to Mt. Diablo to meet with Erica Newman, a graduate student at UC Berkeley who studies fire ecology and explores how climate change may be impacting biodiversity. With Erica’s guidance, students were able to see the abrupt transitions between ecosystems that are characteristic of California (and that set California aside from other places).

It was amazing to see how one could practically trace a line between the chaparral and oak scrub communities!

Throughout the day, we discussed different aspects of fire ecology, evolution, biodiversity, the three main areas of ecology (population, community and ecosystem), and much more!

Students were fascinated to hear about the Age of Fungi, when giant fungi dominated the planet and thought it was interesting that it is not better known.

Students definitely enjoyed the opportunity to get out and see these things for themselves. One of the students commented that going out and seeing things first-hand results in her actually being able to retain them long-term.

It can take something special to wake middle school students up early...it seems that a visit to The Geysers, the largest complex of geothermal plants in the world, fits the bill!

The middle school class at The Renaissance International School met at 6:30am on a Friday earlier this month so that we could make it to the 9am tour of The Geysers, where steam field reservoirs under the earth’s surface arebeing harnessed by Calpine. It was well worth it! The tour, led by one of Calpine’s mechanical engineers, was absolutely fascinating!

It started off at the Calpine Visitor Center, which had an informative display on geothermal energy. None of us had realized that water is actually injected deep into the ground to create more steam and “fill” the steam reservoirs that are used to generate electricity. We then got in a bus that took us into The Geysers. We were able to see injection wells, where water is injected into the earth, and production wells, where steam flows out of the earth, through a system of pipes, to a power plant. The steam is then cleaned (it was amazing to see the bin of sulfur that has been precipitated from the steam!) and used to turn a turbine, thus generating electricity. Students had the opportunity to tour one of the power plants and talk to the plant operator. It was amazing to learn that the plant can be run by one person!

After the tour, students discussed the pros and cons of this type of energy. It produces very little in the way of hazardous waste, and generates no carbon emissions, making it a very clean form of energy. However, the idea that water is necessary to produce this electricity caused some concern among our students, due to their sensitivity to California’s drought. Geothermal presents another advantage over solar and wind energy, however it can be produced constantly, 24 hours a day, with relatively little dependence on the weather.

Students in the elementary art studio have been focusing on learning, relearning, and practicing basic drawing. We began with formal exercises exploring all of the pencils and erasers available, scribbled line gestures (focusing on drawing the entire object all at once in 30 seconds!), slow, careful contour line drawings (careful inspection of all the edges we can see, which describe changes in value, texture, plane, color), and negative space/shape (familiarizing and re-familiarizing ourselves with seeing and drawing the shapes of the “empty” spaces around the object we wish to draw (focusing on the shapes that share a common edge help to side-step the brain’s insistence on drawing from memory).

We are also exploring brush and ink in support of the upcoming trip to China in which some of our students will attend the Montessori Model United Nations program. They will no doubt see some beautiful examples of Chinese brush work and calligraphy. We are learning how to properly hold the brush, load the brush, move the brush, make marks of all sorts, and those specific to bamboo brush painting. We are looking at examples and talking about the Six Guiding Principles of Chinese Brush Painting.

Students are also working on independent projects in all media: weaving, painting, clay, papier-mache, tile mosaic, and more. Some students are finishing works that carried over from last year. Everyone is very excited to get back into the swing of making art!

Also, Mural Class has started and plans have been made! The "Nature Zone Mural" is progressing well. Influences of the work of Henri Rousseau will certainly find their way into the mural as we study and learn about his life and work.

Some of our middle school students here at The Renaissance International School have been heading out to Dimond Park in Oakland every day to survey the biodiversity of a plot of land as part of their exploration of this important issue in today’s rapidly changing world.

They had noted with concern that Sausal Creek, which runs through the plot, was no longer flowing, although there were still pools of water in the creek bed. They were very excited to see the results of the rain last week: the creek was flowing! We were so lucky to be able to witness the impact of this rain so concretely.

Of course, this week, we are having very warm weather so we'll have to see how the creek is affected.

One of our students, Iris, age 11, from San Leandro, did not like math, but that all changed when she invented Cat Math. It is her way of understanding long division, and that understanding helped her to enjoy math. In Cat Math, the cats represent a numeric code, and provide a way to visualize numbers.

The Montessori philosophy is to follow the interest of the children and support their discoveries. Iris's love of animals served to support and guide her comprehension in math.

We are currently fundraising for a trip to China to participate in the Montessori Model United Nations program and are selling Cat Math T-shirts as part of that fundraising effort. We hope you will help to support our goal of selling 50 shirts. Click here for details and to purchase a shirt.